The Golden Goose: A goose that lay golden eggs belonged to a poor farmer named Hans once upon a time in a faraway region. Hans would visit the henhouse each morning to get the goose’s golden egg. Hans was able to live well and support his family with the money he made from selling the eggs.
A curious traveller who happened to be passing by once spotted Hans get the Golden egg. The traveller made an offer to buy Hans’ Goose, but Hans declined because he knew it was his sole source of income.
But the traveller was not the kind to give up quickly. He made a sizable cash offer to Hans in exchange for the goose, but Hans rejected. The traveller then proposed splitting the golden egg equally each day with Hans, but Hans was aware that this was not a good offer. The value of the golden egg much exceeded what the traveller was willing to pay.
The traveller, however, was ingenious and devised a scheme to take the golden goose. The traveller once sneaked into the henhouse when Hans was sound sleeping and took the goose. Then he took off as quickly as he can.
Hans discovered that the goose was vanished when he awoke the following morning. He looked everywhere but was unable in finding it. He was heartbroken because he realised that without the golden egg, his family would suffer.
Days stretched into weeks, and weeks into months, but the Golden goose was nowhere to be seen. Hans had given up on ever finding the Goose since he and his family were barely making ends meet.
Hans came upon a weird elderly guy one day as he was looking for firewood in the woods. Hans noticed that the goose seemed strangely familiar, and upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was his cherished golden goose.
Hans was ecstatic and questioned the elderly guy about how he came to own the goose. The elderly guy informed him that he had taken in the goose after seeing it wandering the wild. He then made a generous offer to Hans to buy the goose back.
Though Hans had the resources to compensate the elderly guy, he was unwilling to give up on his goose. Then, he recalled the wanderer who had proposed splitting the golden egg with him. He understood that he could have his Goose back if he could track down the traveller.
After embarking on a mission to locate the traveller, Hans eventually located him in a nearby village. He addressed the wanderer and asked him to give the goose back. The traveller gave Hans the golden goose after feeling bad about it.
Hans expressed his happiness and thanked the traveller for bringing his goose back. He returned to his farm with the golden Goose and lived happily ever after, never falling victim to another traveler’s con.
The moral of the Story – Loss could arise by greed. The moral of the story is to respect what we have and not let our greed cause us to lose sight of what is really essential, Hans lost his goose because the traveller took it while the traveller was greedy and refused to buy it from Hans. Hans’ integrity and tenacity ultimately resulted in the golden goose being returned. The lesson of the story is to appreciate what we currently have and not let our want for more lead us to lose what we already have.
Synonyms of The Golden Goose
| Words | Synonym |
|---|---|
| Splitting | break, chop, cut, hew, lop, cleave, snap, crack, bust |
| Ingenious | inventive, creative, imaginative, original, innovative, resourceful, enterprising, insightful, inspired, perceptive, intuitive, clever |
| Vanished | disappear, evaporate, dissipate, disperse, fade, fade away |
| Ecstatic | rapturous, joyful, joyous, overjoyed, blissful, beatific |
| Compensate | recompense, repay, pay back, reimburse, remunerate, recoup, requite, indemnify |
| Integrity Tenacity | honesty, uprightness, probity, rectitude, honour persistence, determination, perseverance |